Monday, January 10, 2011

Tom Delay To Star On Dancing With The Bars

In recognition of today's news that former House Majority Leader Tom Delay has been sentenced to 3 years in prison. From a my blog post of September 28th, 2005.

Calling All Weasels!

“Raise your glass to the hard working peopleLet’s drink to the uncounted headsLet’s think of the wavering millionsWho need leaders but get gamblers instead”Jagger/Richard

Who can be really surprised by the indictment of house majority leader Tom Delay by a Texas grand jury today? Not me or, I suspect, lots of other “salt of the earth”
folks he’s had bent over backwards for years. The "hammer" as he is
lovingly called by his bottom feeding supporters calls it all a pinko plot.
You can tell this guy is a “weasel” five minutes into any one of his
sound bites. This guy is the same Tom Delay who tried to cook the house
ethics committee rules to allow ex felons to have their convictions
ignored when it came time to determine whether they should be booted out
of the congress for committing felonious acts. At least for the ones
that get caught.

“His Delayness” joins the number of GOP “leaders” who ethics or competence has been brought into question recently most notably Republican Tom Frist the Senate Majority Leader who's suspected of pulling the same thing that sent Martha Stewart
to jail for insider trading. The question has to be asked how did this
Delay become the majority leader of the United States House of
Representatives in the first place? Common sense should tell anyone that
his power is for sale to the highest bidder in most cases. Maybe this
prostitution of one’s self plays well in the lone star state but it
shouldn’t be tolerated coming from officers of our federal government. Many of
his contemporaries in the government apparently fear his wrath should
they stand up to him and call for his long overdo kicking to the curb.
That is unfortunate indeed.

So what did this right wing “wacko”
do to get such a bad reputation. Let me list the ways? Here are the
“dirty dozen” as provided by Alternet.org.

Delay Raises Corporate Cash for TRMPAC:

DeLay
is embroiled in a scandal in Texas for his active participation in
illegally funneling corporate funds to assist state political campaigns.
DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority
(TRMPAC), is under criminal investigation for using corporate money to
finance Texas campaigns. DeLay has tried to distance himself from the
group, but documents show DeLay "personally forwarded at least one large
check" to the group and was "in direct contact with lobbyists for some
of the nation's largest companies" on TRMPAC's behalf. [Source: NYT,
3/10/05; Salon, 10/04/04]

Delay Bribes Congressman to Vote for Medicare:

DeLay
has admitted offering to endorse Sen. Nick Smith's (R-Mich.) son Brad,
who was running for Congress at the time, in exchange for Smith's "yea"
vote on the Medicare bill. His actions violated House rules and earned
DeLay a "public admonishment" from the Ethics Committee. Smith
originally alleged – and then retracted after pressure from House
leaders – that DeLay also offered a $100,000 bribe for his vote. DeLay
extended the role call on the Medicare bill for nearly three hours in
order "to avoid an embarrassing loss." [Slate, 10/1/04; WP, 10/1/04]

Delay Uses Taxpayer Money for Partisan Stunt:

The
House ethics panel rebuked DeLay for using government resources to help
locate a private plane he thought was carrying Texas Democratic
legislators. DeLay was trying to force the legislators back to the
capitol so he could push through his "bitterly disputed congressional
redistricting." The ethics report cited House rules that bar members
from taking "any official action on the basis of the partisan
affiliation...of the individuals involved" and said DeLay's behavior
raised "serious concerns under such "standards of conduct." [WP,
10/7/04]

Delay Pays for Golf Tournaments with Cash Meant for Kids:

DeLay
used a children's charity, Celebrations for Children Inc., as cover for
collecting soft money from anonymous interest groups, some of which was
used for "dinners, a golf tournament, a rock concert, Broadway tickets
and other fundraising events" at the Republican convention in New York.
Because the money was supposedly for charity, companies wishing to curry
favor with DeLay were able to do so without revealing themselves as
campaign donors. Federal laws governing tax-exempt charities allow no
more than an insubstantial portion of a group's revenue to be spent on
activities other than the charity's main stated purpose. [CBS, 11/14/03;
WP, 3/24/04]

Delay Promises 'Seat At Table' for Donor:

In
one of its three public rebukes, the House Ethics Committee cited the
belief on the part of executives at an energy company, Westar Energy
Inc., that a $56,500 contribution to a political action committee
associated with DeLay would get them a "seat at the table" where key
energy legislation was being drafted. DeLay also participated in
Westar's golf fundraiser at The Homestead resort in the summer of 2002, "
just as the House-Senate conference on major energy legislation ... was
about to get underway." [WP, 10/7/04]

Delay Takes Money from Texas Prison Company with Legislation Pending:

DeLay
took a $100,000 check from a private prison company: The Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA) – at a fundraiser for his children's
charity, the DeLay Foundation for Kids. CCA – whose 20-year history has
been "fraught with malfeasance, mismanagement, and abuse" – was part of
an ongoing lobby for a bill that would privatize up to half of Texas's
jails. DeLay is known for wielding major influence over the
Republican-led legislature that will decide on the matter. [Knight
Ridder, 11/30/04; Texas Observer, 6/6/03]
Delay Blocks Legislation for Partisan Vendetta:

In
1999, DeLay received a "private rebuke" for threatening retaliation
against the Electronic Industries Association when the trade group named
a Democrat to head its Washington operation. To punish the group, DeLay
stopped two uncontroversial trade bills that would have benefited the
EIA and told the association it would lose all GOP access unless it
hired a Republican instead. The group still hired the Democrat, but a
little later, the EIA quietly hired a former House Republican staff
member who promptly showed up at a fundraiser for DeLay's ARMPAC. [Texas
Observer, 2/4/00; Slate, 12/5/98]

Delay Takes Shady Donations for Legal Defense Fund:

The
list of recent donors to DeLay's legal defense fund includes two
lawmakers placed on the House Ethics Committee this year (they replaced
conservatives who were purged for being critical of DeLay), and
corporations implicated in DeLay's alleged fundraising violations.
Corporate donors include Bacardi U.S.A., the rum maker that has also
been indicted in the Texas investigation, and Reliant Energy, "another
major contributor to a Texas political action committee formed by Mr.
DeLay that is the focus of the criminal inquiry." In December, DeLay was
forced to return funds from registered lobbyists because those
contributions violated House ethics rules. [NYT, 3/13/05; Time, 3/13/05]

Delay Leaves Ethics Behind On European Vacation:

DeLay
enjoyed a luxurious vacation at the Four Seasons Hotel in London in
mid-2000, paid for by an Indian tribe and a gambling services company,
both of which opposed gambling legislation DeLay voted against two
months later. The payment was funneled through lobbyist Jack Abramoff,
best known for teaming up with right-wing religious fundamentalist Ralph
Reed to close down a Texas casino operated by the Tigua Indians in
2002, then persuading the tribe to pay the two of them $4.2 million to
lobby Washington lawmakers, including DeLay, to reopen it. According to
expense accounts obtained by the Journal, Abramoff financed DeLay and
DeLay's staff's stay at the Four Seasons hotel to the tune of $4,285.35.
The total reimbursement for expenses in London was $13,318.50. [WP,
3/12/05; Raw Story, 2/25/05; WP, 9/29/04]

Delay Leaves House Rules Behind on Asian Vacation:

DeLay
accepted an expense-paid trip to South Korea which, in direct violation
of House rules, was paid for by a South Korean lobbying group. The
Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, a group registered with the Foreign Agents
Registration Act, was created with help from DeLay's former chief of
staff. The cost to send DeLay, his wife and three of his lawmaker
friends to Seoul for three days was $106,921, the fourth largest cost
for any single trip taken by lawmakers between January 2000 and
September 2004. [WP, 3/10/05]

Delay Kicks Ethics out of House:

DeLay
and his allies in the House have sought to cripple the House Ethics
Committee. The committee, which rebuked DeLay three times last year, was
purged of its most "responsible" members last month and is currently
"paralyzed" by a proposed rules change that "would prevent the committee
from launching any investigation without the support of at least one
Republican-a restriction designed to protect the majority leader." [WP,
2/5/05; WP, 10/7/04; Time, 3/13/05]

Delay Tries to Change Rules to Protect Power:

DeLay
was the driving force behind the decision by House leaders to abandon
an 11-year-old party rule that "required leaders to step aside
temporarily if indicted." The idea was dropped only after rank-and-file
lawmakers complained "the party was sending the wrong message." [NYT,
11/18/04; WP, 3/11/05]

This kind of behavior should not be
tolerated no matter what political party or politician's sewer district
it oozes up from. The President and Republicans leaders (who are not
pending indictments themselves) should show some backbone and call for
Delay to resign his seat in the congress now! He’s an embarrassment to
the country and the institutions of government he is supposedly sworn to
uphold and protect.